THIRD time's the charm for Team Asia, as Aloysius Yapp closed out the 11-6 victory to help his side win the inaugural Reyes Cup over Team Europe early Saturday at Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Singaporean calmed his nerves down to pull off a 5-1 rout of Francisco Sanchez Ruiz and send the Manila crowd in jubilation.
"It's a priceless moment for all of us to win this Reyes Cup with champ Efren still here," said Johann Chua.
Yapp, who was adjudged as MVP of the event, added: "I'm proud of the whole team. At the start of the week, I was very nervous and made a lot of mistakes, but my teammates supported me and lifted up my spirit, and Efren is the best coach I could ask for."
He was in peak form in the final day of the event going on the offensive, first kicking the 3-9 combo in rack 3 to get ahead before a runout got him in front, 3-1.
Sanchez Ruiz had a costly foul on the 2-ball in the next rack which led to the Sinaporean clearing the frame, and eventually, the trophy-clinching runout in rack 6.
It's a statement triumph for the Asians, re-asserting their position among the best pool players in the world to claim the throne in this team tourney named after the great Efren "Bata" Reyes.
Ko Pin Yi and Duong Quoc Hoang got Team Asia on the hill with their masterful 5-3 win over Sanchez Ruiz and Mickey Krause in doubles action.
With the match tied at three racks apiece, Ko missed on his jump attempt on the 2-ball but FSR also made the same blunder on the blue as the ball hit the lip of the side pocket.
The Asians would sweep the table to get to 10 points.
There remained some erratic cueing from Team Asia on the next rack, particularly Duong's bad preparation on the 4-ball, forcing Ko to play safety. But that was the same case for Team Europe, with FSR missing on his bank attempt on the 5-ball that opened the window for the Ko-Duong tandem to nab the W.
Slow start, fine finish for Team Asia
This more than made up for the losses of Filipino cue artists in their respective singles matches.
Chua suffered a slim 5-4 loss to David Alcaide to open the night.
The 2024 Hanoi Open champion scratched on his break on rack 9, leading to the Spaniard cleaning the table.
Carlo Biado also got dealt with a 5-3 defeat at the hands of Jayson Shaw, who kept the fight going for Team Europe.
"Eagle Eye" raced to a 4-0 lead, and although "Black Tiger" refused to quit and won the next three racks, the Pinoy overshot the 2-ball on the corner in rack 8 which led to Shaw taking the point.
Shaw then kept the pressure on Team Asia with a clinical 5-2 win over Duong.
The Scot once again got to the hill with ease, and save for surrendering the next two racks to his Vietnamese opponent, made a runout on rack 7 to keep Team Europe alive.
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